Mega City 1

Prog 3 Patrol

Going Underground

8

JAN/14

Returning to the sector house the clones were notified by Tech Division that the surveillance the freight zoom train that had been behaving erratically at the time of the radiation warning at the Tech Bazaar, has been attempting to contact the frequencies being monitored in trying to trace the financing for the sniper attack on the Chief Judge.

Data seems to show that the calls are being routed through Bermuda and the residence of Valentina Vasiliev and through a Hondo Cit finance company on Luna 1, Andrea Carretero Sierra being the name that was flagged up.

Further surveillance of Sierra is requested by the Chief Judge and Luna 1 judges are put on the case, and at your disposal.

Meanwhile, the final destination of the comms is back here in MC1, but still unable to pinpoint the location. Tech Division seem to be convinced that the interference on the line is dimensional in nature, if anything, the final destination may not even be in this reality.

All that leaves, is an investigation of the zoom itself.

The clones board a hov wagon, and speed out of the city, en-route, information trickles through that there was some sort of fire fight at the junk yard, the final stop for the zoom, the train started back up, and heading back to the city.

The H-wagon matches the speed of the zoom, and lowers the judges onto the roof of the rear carriage, and they cut their way into the carriage, moments before it enters the first set of tunnels under the Great Salt Beds of old Chi town, only an hour or so before it is due at Penn & Teller station.

Even as the Judges cut their way into the train, something rocks the train further forward, and as the light disappears at the tunnel mouth behind them, a shock-wave rumbles through the earth, and a burst of static over their comms. Seconds later, as Liefield kicks the door in, the first horrific reports of a bomb attack against Cursed Earth Iso Block 23 begin to trickle through.

Judge Von Simian pauses for a moment to tackle the onboard computers, trying to light up their way, and is physically thrown from the computer – this is something physical that has taken over the train, and no skill of his can wrest the control from whoever is now driving this train. With no control over the zoom, all that is clear, is that there is a strong atomic signal coming from the front of the train – all they had to do was get there.

Training kicked in for the street judges, and they swept quickly up the carriage, covering each other, Judge Foe taking point, silence falling over them, just the rumble of the zoom, the whoosh of the mag lev track below them, and a steady pounding from further up, which indicated that the zoom may have taken damage during the fire fight.

It was in pausing to determine where this may be, that the first scuttling sounds came from the darkness ahead. Out of the shadow, small robotic spiders sprang forth, dozens of them, crawling over the floors, walls and ceilings, chittering to themselves and eachother, probing, targeting, and heading straight for the clones.

Void was first to her lawgiver, and blew the first droid to pieces. Bliss did the same, while they targeted the next droids, the first targets began to audible tick – and self destructed, taking another passing droid with it. Another wave of the spiders crawled from the shadows.

The judges just opened up, firing at any target, and seconds later had dealt with all twenty four of the things. Von Simian maaged to grab one, and momentarily pause the self destruct, and sent it back the way it had come, and into the path of six war droids.

The war droids were more heavily armoured, but were only firing slugs. One or two shots got through the judges armour, but even the war droids posed little risk. It wasn’t until they got to the third carriage, and the plasma shooting mark three droids rolled out of the shadows, that the clones broke out into a sweat.

Judge Void snapped first, and fired off two hi-ex shots, taking out the droids, but tearing large holes in the carriage too. The force field holding the zoom together, and preventing anything loose in the tunnels from hitting it, pulsed purple below their feet, and the last of the droids in this carriage slipped into the hole, and bounced noisily along the base of the carriage until it exploded somewhere behind them.

Then the sirens and the strobe lights started, and a calm, mechanical voice anoouced that this car had been comprimised and was being disconnected. The judges leaped across the deadly gap and ran for the next compartment, Von Simian and Liefield barely making it, and sliding under the compartnment door as it slammed shut, leaving them on what should be the second last compartment.